With many pieces of equipment for handling documents or business forms, such as pressure sealing equipment sold by Moore U.S.A. under the trademark "SpeediSealer.RTM." (e.g. models PS-1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) cleaning of toner from rollers or paper guiding surfaces of the machines can be a significant problem. Oftentimes due to safety requirements the need to meet agency approvals, the cleaning is a difficult task and often requires a service engineer. Toner tends to build up on the rollers on paper guiding surfaces and can interfere with the operation of the machine, or can streak the business forms or documents handled thereby.
Other document or other business form handling machines such as laser printers (e.g. Hewlett-Packard HP 3, 4, and 5 printers or Lexmark Optra N MICR printers), and photocopiers (e.g. Xerox 5034 and 5065 copiers) also have problems with toner build up. Cleaning is oftentimes ignored, or accomplished during infrequent visits by a service technician. Cleaning with solvents entails the use of toxic or flammable materials, and the resultant fumes can be very unpleasant. Toner build up, when it occurs, can cause image streaks on the documents or business forms being handled or produced by the machines, or can adversely affect image quality.
According to the present invention a very simple cleaning aid, and method of utilization thereof, are provided which allow for effective periodic cleaning of document or business forms handling machines--including all of the equipment described above--with a minimum of effort, and without requiring involvement by service technicians or engineers, and without unpleasant fumes, or the use of any toxic or flammable materials.
According to the present invention a method of cleaning a document or business forms handling machine (such as a pressure sealer, photocopier, or laser printer) having toner associated therewith, and also having rollers or paper guiding surfaces on which toner may collect, is provided. The method uses a sheet of paper having a pattern of non-tacky toner attracting and holding material on at least a first face thereof, and comprises the steps of: (a) When the machine is in need of cleaning, feeding the sheet of paper into the machine so that the non-tacky toner attracting and holding material comes into contact with toner on the rollers or paper guiding surfaces, removing toner from the rollers or paper guiding surfaces. And, (b) removing the sheet of paper, having removed-toner held thereon, from the machine, and ultimately discarding the sheet.
Typically step (a) is practiced by using a sheet of paper having pressure sensitive cohesive on a first face thereof, the cohesive coming into contact with the rollers of the paper guiding surfaces. The non-tacky nature of the cohesive makes it easy to handle when not actually in use, requiring no covering sheets, release sheets, or the like, yet the material is extremely effective in attracting and holding toner, being capable of cleaning most document or business forms handling machines of the type described above by one or two pass-throughs. The cohesive may be a styrene-natural rubber copolymer such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,918,128, 5,427,851, and 5,201,464, and preferably is of the type sold commercially by Toppan Corporation of Japan under the trade designation TN-124.
Where the machine has both upper and lower rollers and paper guiding surfaces, step (a) may be practiced by feeding a sheet having cohesive patterns on both first and second opposite faces thereof, to attract and hold toner on both the upper and lower rollers and paper guiding surfaces. Such a sheet may be formed with the pressure sensitive cohesive on both the top and bottom faces of the sheet, or by attaching together two sheets of paper having a cohesive pattern on only a first face thereof so that the cohesive patterns face away from each other.
Where the machine comprises a manual forms advance wheel (such as a Moore model PS-3 SpeediSealer.RTM. machine), steps (a) and (b) may be practiced, at least in part, by feeding the sheet through the machine using the manual forms advance wheel. Where the machine includes one or more of an exit divert button and a jog forward button (such as a Moore model PS-4 or PS-5 SpeediSealer.RTM. machine), steps (a) and (b) may be practiced, at least in part, by operating at least one of the exit divert and jog forward buttons.
Steps (a) and (b) may be practiced using a sheet having strips of toner attracting material elongated in a first dimension and spaced from each other in a second dimension, substantially transverse to the first dimension, with step (a) practiced, at least in part, by feeding the sheet in a first direction parallel to the first dimension. Alternatively steps (a) and (b) may be practiced using a sheet having either diagonal strips of toner attracting material or a solid block of material. The cohesive material may be applied using the same type of conventional equipment which applies this same type of cohesive used in mailer type business forms that are pressure sealed using the SpeediSealer equipment, such as the forms shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,464, and preferably the cohesive has a thickness of about 8.5-11 microns.
According to another aspect of the present invention a cleaner sheet is provided, for use in practicing the method as described above. Distinct from conventional mailer type business forms with pressure sensitive cohesive as the adhesive for sealing the forms, the cleaner sheet according to the invention has a very significant amount of the at least one face thereof covered by the pressure sensitive cohesive. While the percentage of the sheet covered by the cohesive may vary, in most circumstances at least 15% of one face will be covered with the cohesive, typically at least 20%, and more typically at least about 30%. Also the cleaner sheet must have sufficient integrity that it will not be adversely affected by being fed through a machine (perhaps intermittently, by operating "jog button"), and has sufficient bulk and toner holding power so that any toner removed will be held by the sheet typically without strike through. Therefore the thickness and weight that the sheet may have is a 20-36 lb. bond paper sheet (that is 20-38 lbs. per 22 inch.times.17 inch 500 sheet ream of paper), or an 80-100 lb. tag stock sheet (that is 80-100 lb. per 24 inch.times.36 inch 500 sheet ream).
Therefore according to the cleaner sheet per se aspect of the present invention, a cleaner sheet is provided comprising: A substantially quadrate sheet of paper having a thickness and weight substantially comparable to about 20-38 lb. bond paper, or 80-100 lb. tag stock, a leading edge, a trailing edge substantially parallel to the leading edge, and first and second faces. And, a pattern of non-tacky toner attracting and holding material disposed on at least the first face, spaced from at least the first edge, and covering at least about fifteen percent of the first face.
As earlier described the sheet preferably has a weight and thickness substantially the same as 100 lb. tag stock, and the material is preferably pressure sensitive cohesive, such as a styrene-natural rubber copolymer as described above. The cohesive is preferably in the configuration of substantially linear strips of cohesive elongated in a first dimension (either substantially transverse to the leading edge, or at diagonals, or in other patterns) and spaced from each other in a second dimension substantially transverse to the first dimension. The pattern is preferably spaced from the leading edge a distance of at least about two inches, preferably about three inches or more, and the cohesive typically covers at least about 15%, preferably at least about 20%, and most preferably at least about 30%, of the first face.
The sheet may have pressure sensitive cohesive on both first and second faces thereof, or the sheet may comprise a composite sheet, including first and second sheets each having a pattern of cohesive on a first face thereof, the sheets being attached together (e.g. by a pressure sensitive adhesive tape) with the patterns of cohesive facing away from each other.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention a combination of machine and sheet is provided. The combination comprises: A document or business forms handling machine (such as a photocopier, laser printer, or pressure sealer) having toner associated therewith, and also having rollers and paper guiding surfaces on which toner may collect. And, a sheet of paper having a thickness and weight substantially comparable to about 20-38 lb. bond paper, or 80-100 lb. tag stock, and having a pattern of non-tacky toner attracting and holding material (such as pressure sensitive cohesive) on at least a first face thereof and covering at least about twenty percent of the first face, the material in contact with at least one roller or paper guiding surface and removing toner therefrom.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a mechanism and method to effect the simple yet effective cleaning of toner from a document or business forms handling machine. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.